GALLERY: New Hyundai Elite i20 for the Indian market

We now have live pics of the new Hyundai i20 that made its world debut earlier this week. In India, a big market for Hyundai, the new B-segment hatchback (VW Polo, Ford Fiesta and Kia Rio are rivals) is badged as the Elite i20, and that’s the car we’re focusing on here.

At 40 mm longer than before at 4,035 mm, the i20 is one of the few superminis to break the four-metre mark. That increase has been incorporated into the wheelbase, now 45 mm longer at 2,570 mm. Hyundai says that legroom and the 320 litre boot are best in class. Indian models get a smaller 285 litre boot, likely because of a full-sized spare tyre.

The Indian market gets two engine choices, a 83 PS/115 Nm 1.2L Kappa petrol and a 90 PS/220 Nm 1.4L U2 turbodiesel. Both are paired with manual gearboxes, five speeds for the petrol and six for the oil burner. An automatic gearbox will be introduced for the petrol engine soon.

The previous i20 never made it here to replace the Getz, but this one could follow the path of the Volkswagen Polo, which is assembled in Malaysia with KD packs from India. Would you like to see it here?

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

Price ain’t everything. Petrol costs upwards of Rs70 per litre. About 3.5 ringgit or so. Road safety is a daily lottery. What’s the point in uber luxury and luxo accessories when you cannot reasonably drive faster than 40 km on b roads without hitting either a two legged or four legged cow (besides negligible tarring by the way)? Speed humps are called speed breakers for a reason. You’re careless and run thru them,you’d be picking up pieces of your suspension and driveline way behind your car. Spoken from experience…

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